today. >> my pleasure. thanks. >> thanks for being here, soledad o'brien. we be back on monday morning bright and early and we will continue our coverage of the important stories for you in the morning including, i suspect, the debt deal. on monday, we will have the soccer game to talk about. we will have the world cup final. >> big victory to talk about. >> that's it for us. "cnn newsroom" begins right now with kyra phillips. you have a busy morning. >> we do. a lot to talk about. it's 9:00 a.m. on the east coast and 6:00 a.m. on the west coast. thanks for joining us. the nation's debt crisis. the clock ticks and pressure builds. the president tells the congressional leaders you have 24 hours or less to make something has been. a top murdoch executive resigns this morning. rebekah brooks former head of the disgraced tabloid "news of the world" is gone. in southern california, drivers buckling up for carmagedd carmageddon. a bridge demolition that will close down 405, one of california's busiest highways.

we begin with the resignation of a key executive in the rupert murdoch media empire. rebekah brooks is out. many people were outraged when brooks kept her job after the newspaper was shut down for scandalous reporting tactics. and as brooks steps down, the investigations ramp up. the fbi now investigating the murdoch empire right here in the united states. lawmakers demanding the probe amid reports that murdoch's journalists hacked the cell phones of 9/11 victims and their families. susan candiotti in new york with the details now. susan? >> reporter: hi, kyra. good morning to you. yes, this investigation is now 24 hours old. as fbi tries to figure out how they are going to approach this. all of it started, kyra, with a report in a british tabloid that a private investigator here in new york, that there was an attempt to hire him to hack into phone records of 9/11 victims and families, as well as reach

out into the voice mails of 9/11 victims and families. the fbi, that appears to be the starting point and see if there is any truth in that. people on thrill and 9/11 families have been pushing for this. the u.s. attorney general has acknowledged during a news conference in australia in the last 4 hours that, yes, indeed, this is taking place. and already we have reaction from 9/11 families, including jim riches who lost his son, a firefighter, on 9/11. >> in somebody went in and took our information and took our last messages from our sons or what we were talking about, it's not none of their business unless they can ask us and if we're willing to tell them, we will tell them. to invade privacy like that, america has rights. >> reporter: in fact, mr. riches and other 9/11 families saying if these allegations are true, it is horrifying and people should be prosecuted if they can find out who is responsible.

>> susan candiotti, thanks. the man who led new york through the 9/11 attacks and its horrible aftermath is speaking out on the murdoch scandal. former new york mayor and onetime prosecutor rudy giuliani said this. >> sure. i mean, intercepting communications like that is crime and has to be investigateded. we have learned recently a bunch of criminal cases of different kinds, don't rush to judgment. give people a presumption of innocence. i think just how high up it goes is a big question and when we should be jumping to conclusions about. >> giuliani is also a longtime friend of rupert murdoch. now the nation's debt crisis and a new deadline. forget august 2nd. the president says it's decision time now. here is what he told congress. you've got 24 hours or less to move forward on a deal. and then there is this dire message from the big three global credit ratings agencies. if a deal isn't reached soon,

they will downgrade the nation's credit standing. the president speaks to the american public today. a news conference less than two hours away from now. 11:00 eastern. we will carry it live. let's get to the white house and dan lothian. what do we expect the president on say come 11:00? >> reporter: well, a senior administration official telling me the president will be explaining to the american people where they really are in this process, what he has asked congressional leaders to do, and how he is still pushing for the biggest deal possible. another white house aide telling me the president will continue in that press conference to make the case that now is the time to sort of seize the moment in order to get the big deal, but i can tell you, after five cadays here of meetings at the white house, still this grand bargain deal does not appear like the republicans pushing back and resisting that. so it seems likely that it will be something either much smaller than that or perhaps something in the middle. what we do know is that after yesterday's meeting, the

president called on these congressional leaders to go back and meet with their caucuses and then come back within 24 to 36 hours with some options about the way forward and, if not, perhaps they will have to meet again over the weekend. all sides here trying to prevent what everyone has described as a catastrophic situation if that debt ceiling is not raised. >> dan lothian at the white house, thanks. stay with cnn for live coverage of the president's news conference less than two hours from now at 11:00 eastern. don't think for a second the president is the only one pushing back here. his own base is protesting. our deputy political director paul steinhauser. what is the news there? >> reporter: an hour after the president's news conference in chicago, outside the president's re-election headquarters, you're going to see the progressive change campaign committee. they are one of these progressive liberal groups and they have been pushing back against the president for a

couple of years now. and deliver what they say is 200,000 pledges from democrats across the country who say they won't campaign, they won't contribute to the president's re-election campaign if he cuts social security, medicare or medicaid as part of this plan. republicans are hearing it from the tea party and the president and other congressional democrats are hearing it from the progressive groups. let's move from chicago north and west to minnesota, it looks like that two-week long government shutdown may just about be over. the democratic governor up, mark dayton and lawmakers have come to an agreement to end the shutdown up there. minnesota like every other state needs a balanced budget. they didn't have it on july 1st and why the shutdown happened. looks like the republicans are hear the political winners because dayton and the other democrats there had to give up plans to try to tax wealthy machiniae i minnesotians to end it up there. >> i guess you could take things to a ballpark.

>> reporter: yes you can and we did that in washington, d.c. last year at nationals park, that is where the nationals play in major league baseball but the 50th annual congressional game. yep guess who won this time is in the democrats 8-2. second year in a row they won. they won big the year before. give it to the democrats. but, again, that's baseball. that's fun and games. it's tougher i guess in budget and deficit negotiations. >> no doubt. although there are a lot of things flying, i'm sure, in the other negotiations as well. >> reporter: good one. good one. >> you will have your next political update in about an hour. always get all of the political news 24/7 at cnn/politics.com. casey anthony gets out of jail on sunday. what is next for the florida mom? hear what pr experts think they are next move should be ahead. a love letter finally arrives more than a half century later! you'll see what it says as we tell you. [ man ] they said i couldn't win a fight.

but i did. they said i couldn't fight above my weight class. but i did. they said i couldn't get elected to congress. but i did. ♪ sometimes when we touch ha ha! millions of hits! [ male announcer ] flick, stack, and move between active apps seamlessly. only on the new hp touchpad with webos.

in days president obama isn't too busy with debt ceilings, the u.s. women's soccer team has invited him in sunday's showdown. another one who is going is zain verjee who is live in london. you're packing up and ready to go and live at the game. will you be able to talk to the president? >> reporter: yeah. i just may, you know? it's going to be so exciting,

you know? i have my stilettos on and putting my running shoes on pretty soon and packing to go. it is going to be an exciting game. the u.s. women's soccer team is just one victory away from history. they are a great team that is said to be magical with a never say die attitude. they hustle and they are talented and really fit, but they do have a tough test. the japanese are in it. i read one article that said it's not just about their height, it's about their heart, because they are fighting for a win to uplift the whole country after the devastation of the tsunami. they are motivated by that. t >> i hope i get to see it. >> we are looking forward to your reports. zain, thanks so much. checking stories across the country. a scary few moments at boston's logan airport. two planes collide on the runway right before takeoff. a delta 767's left wing crushed

the tail section of a smaller delta commuter plane. both planes evacuated. kind of crazy. that we couldn't sell lemonade. so -- but it was fun and stuff, but we had to listen to the cops and shut down. >> it is crazy! a lemonade stand bust! can you believe police in midway, georgia, shut it down because the girls didn't have a business license and a vendors permit. the chief says, the law is the law, closed quote. the girls said they were trying to earn money to go to a water park. get this. an indianapolis man learns about a love letter written by his high school sweetheart 53 years later! it was signed, love forever, vonnie. by the woman who would later become clark moore's first wife. they eventually divorced but clark is anxious to read it and share it with his kids anyway.

sunday, casey anthony is released from the orange county florida jail. what some are worried about her safety, others are wondering how she will rebuild her life after such an infamous trial. here is cnn's david mattingly. >> reporter: as one of the most watched and talked about people in the country, public relations executives weigh in with a word of caution to casey anthony -- do not confuse infamy with fame. >> it's not fame. there's interest in you. a lot of it's negative interest. don't confuse that situation with celebrity. don't think that you have to go out and do a whole lot of things right now. as a matter of fact, it's best probably to lay low. >> caylee! >> reporter: if that is even possible. angry words we heard outside the orange county courthouse are tiny in comparison to the casey anthony hatred expressed online. more than 770,000 people are signed on to just one of many

anti-casey pages on facebook. >> we, the jury, find the defendant not guilty. >> reporter: acquitted in a court of law, casey anthony may need to begin fighting for her freedom in the court of public opinion the minute she walks out of jail. >> most people are going to be looking at her expression. i think people need to see remorse. i think people need to see that she understands the fact that she lost her daughter. she doesn't need to walk out of jail smiling. she doesn't need to walk out of jail with a smirk on her face. she needs to walk out of jail looking like a mother who lost her child. >> reporter: and from there, experts believe it would be time, at least temporarily, to disappear. consider the offers that come her way and decide how best to tell her story.

>> we're going to have to hear from casey anthony. we're going to have to hear a first-person account. people will be interested in what she has to say. whether or not they accept it or not is a different story. >> david mattingly is joining us live from orlando. how is this going to work and where is she going to go? >> reporter: typically, when someone is release from the orange county jail, they are brought out of a public waiting area where they go and get into a car for someone waiting for her. we have no idea that is what they are going to do with casey anthony or not. they have gone to great lengths to make sure the when, where, and how of this departure from this facility has remained a secret. it could happen some time in the wee hours of the morning. it could happen before dawn. it could happen sometime during the day. we just don't know. believe me, every single exit from this jail is being watched by someone in the media. there are cameras everywhere and probably be a surprise to everyone when we finally learn how she gets out of here.

>> all right. david mattingly live in orlando, thanks. i want my money back. that is the word from flyers who say airlines, if you can't get me my baggage when i land, then pay up! we will talk about that coming up next. move over, lady gaga. a new facebook queen and it ain't you. we have got the scoop next in show biz.

got show biz headlines for you. rihanna is now the most popular woman on facebook. according to camecount.com she surpassed gaga at noon yesterday. lady gaga fans took to twitter

telling fans to unlike rihanna. lady gaga to cher is the beautiful thing. she is back in the studios recording a song that lady gaga gave her. eva lon ggoria's may be popular. nightclub closes. a restaurant attached to the club still making money and will stay open. zain verjee has news for you. it's not lonely at the top and not good for you either. if you're a baboon. zain has been investigating a nine-theory-year-study on stress and she will join us after the break. discover aveeno positively radiant tinted moisturizers with scientifically proven soy complex and natural minerals. give you sheer coverage instantly, then go on to even skin tone in four weeks. aveeno tinted moisturizers.

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it's not lonely at the top, it's also not very good for you. i guess if you're a baboon that is. local kenyan reporter zain verjee has been investigating this nine-year study on stress

and she knows it well. zain is going to read the animal kingdom tea leaves. do swell. >> reporter: i was not the and analyzing the poop that gave us these phenomenal results. >> thank goodness! >> reporter: but i tell you what is going on with this study. it's nine years in the making and scientists basically determined that the baboons out there, if you consider the alpha males, they are actually more stressed out than they were thought to be. you'd think if you were a top dog, if you were the number one up there on the chain, you'd be relaxed and have all of the food and females baboons and sleep wherever you want. that's not the case. they are as stressed out as the other baboons at the bottom of the totem pole. scientists gathered their poop and gathered it to a lab and analyze it. i guess when you look at the testosterone levels you can figure out the stress levels in

the baboons, so it turns out it ain't that great to be number one in the baboon world. when i go to kenya next week, i will be able to confirm that. >> you will actually go and mingle with the baboons and discuss this scientific research with them? what does this mean for the number two guy, the number two baboon there? >> reporter: well, it means it's great to be number two. actually, it's better than number one, because you're not as stressed out. you know? you're not worried so much about the female baboons and the food and are proving that you're the man. you know? you can just say, okay, i'm number two, you know? i'm going to sleep here and get food here. oh, i like this baboon here. being the bigger male baboon is better than being the alpha male. kyra? >> i'm not really quite sure what to take away from all of this to apply to the human male, but i think we can read between the lines on that as well. thank you, zain. new and improved passenger friendly airline rules go into

effect next month. no more sitting on the tarmac for hours or hit with the hidden fees. when it comes to your bags, of course, there is a catch. alison kosik has more at the new york stock exchange. >> reporter: don't you hate it when you pay the hefty big bag fees and the airline loses your luggage and chances are you're stuck paying that fee after the new consumer protections take effect unless you never get your baggage buggage bag. the airlines only has to refund the fees if it never returns your bag. your bag could is missing a week or more but as long as you get it back you cannot get the refund. the new rules do not apply to delayed bags. as many people as there are in the air airlines hardly ever lose bags altogether. a technology firm did study on this and found every 1,000 passengers around the world only 12 bags are mishandled and one bag lost for every thousand people. if you ask me if you're in that

group that is affected, it's frustrating! >> we pay such huge prices anyway. it seems that carriers should be more willing to give a small refund. >> reporter: it would be nice, right? yeah, the tickets are expensive enough on their own. then you throw in those bag fees and we all feel really taken advantage of. look at the different from 2007 to last year. flyers pay over $464 million for checked in bags back then. in 2010, it was almost $3.5 billion. part of the reason industry posted, it is part of the reason why the industry posted these massive profits last year. so you know what? they are not going so quick to give in knowing they are making billions of dollars off you and me and our bags. >> no surprise. alison, thanks. latest "harry potter" movie opens today. while stuff in the books has troubled some christians, one priest says, hold on a second. give it a chance. should we listen to the word of harry potter? that is next.

look at the mad douche just for the chance to sign up for section 8 housing. a lot of people got hurt in that commotion. we're back in three minutes. t i. they said i couldn't fight above my weight class. but i did. they said i couldn't get elected to congress. but i did. ♪ sometimes when we touch ha ha! millions of hits! [ male announcer ] flick, stack, and move between active apps seamlessly. only on the new hp touchpad with webos.

checking top stories. less than two hours president obama will have yn update on the debt ceiling talks. cnn will carry it live. 10,000 troops scheduled to withdraw at the end of the year all of the this week from afghanistan. fbi launches murdoch investigation after learning that victims of families of 9/11, phones were hacked. a top murdoch executive has resigned. rebekah brooks editor of "news of the world" when the most

disgraceful allegations took place. to many in britain she became the face of this scandal, right? >> reporter: yeah, now she has finally gone after days of sort of clinging on to her job by her fingernails with everyone from the prime minister downward saying she should go. finally, this morning, she did resign. that's not the end of the story yet. she and rupert and james murdoch all have to appear before a committee in the building behind me on tuesday and they will be grilled by politicians who want some answers as to who knew what and when. >> dan rivers live out of london, we will follow the fallout, of course, from that resignation. it took one of the fbi's most intense manhunts to finally nail mob boss whitey bulger but even behind bars, what damage can he still do?

deborah feyerick looks into that. >> i met whitey between the age of 15 and 16. >> reporter: john shay, nicknamed red, grew up in a tight knit world of south boston's old housing colony projects. a golden glove boxer with a wild streak wanted to be just like whitey bulger and the gangsters who ran southy. >> over there is colony project an over here the harbor projects where whitey grew up and santa monica church. next to there is the liquor store and the video store where it was base of operation. the guy was legendary. >> reporter: shay says bulger was the undisputed king of southy. >> he wanted to be as strong asbestos powerful and as rich as he could with. >> reporter: whitey was the toughest of them all. >> are you kidding me? he made tough guys shake. he made them shake. >> reporter: raised by a single

mom, shay looked up to bulger as a father figure and mentor and s shay worked for bulger as enforcer shaking down debtors and in a bizarre negotiation he took to a basement and pulled a gun. >> it was called a test and that is when i had become the boss after that. >> reporter: and that put you in charge of the drugs? >> that put me in charge of the drugs. >> reporter: in 1990, shay was convicted of cocaine trafficking. he served 12 years, refusing to cooperate in exchange for a shorter sentence. >> they wanted whitey through me and i wouldn't give him up. they could have threatened me with electric chair and i wouldn't of gave him up, ever. >> reporter: because in southy, it was okay to be a criminal, but not a rat. and when shay, in prison, found out bulger was an fbi informant. >> it was almost like someone reached through the phone lines down my throat and tore my heart

out. so that's what it is for me. because i honored the code. >> reporter: and they played you. >> and they played me. because whitey knew. >> reporter: as buller went on the run, his betrayal out in the open his 20-year reign as boston's most notorious mob boss came to an end. >> i would have died for that guy. i would have died for him. >> reporter: with two books to his credit, shay says he has taken responsibility for his early life and is now a changed man. as for the former king of southy? shay believes he still is calling the shots. >> he is playing them. is he giving them information? is he talking to them? you guarantee he is. he started the minute they captured him. but psychologically, he's playing them. guaranteed! >> deb joins us now from new york with the back story on whitey bulger. deb? >> reporter: it's so interesting, kyra. the more you read, the more you learn about him and speaking to people about the hold he had on

south boston. shay who you just saw there, calls whitey bulger a gangster of psychopathic intelligence. didn't imagine if you owed him a hundred dollars or a hundred thousand dollars. it was a matter of principle. you had to pay up. all of the gang sisters had a code and you can see the anger in shay's ideas and his demeanor. it was better to be dead than be a rat. when the underworld found out that whitey bulger was an nib fc fbi informant they found out he was not loyal to them. >> deb, your cnn presents on sunday night, we look forward to it. >> reporter: thanks. after more than a decade, the spell will soon be broken. >> someone is home. finish the story where we started it. together! >> opening today, "harry potter

and deathly hallows part 2" hauled in 25 million. the final book in the series but don't worry potter will still live on in toothbrushes, halloween costumes and pajamas but will the word of potter live on? when started filling up with "harry potter" books, hard-core religious folks felt the story insulted their beliefs and made heroes out of warlocks. however, our next guest says the stories of "harry potter" don't teach doctrine but ask questions of ultimate meaning. danielle teaches the class "harry meets the bible at yale. >> danielle, what are the questions of ultimate meaning that are posed through harry potter and the other characters? >> it's such a great question. you know, i think what we see the questions most prominent have to do with evil and death. harry is faced with the denial of his parents and has to say what does their death mean for

me? can i have a relationship with people who have died? how do i carry on and live with their memory? and, you know, if the books are about anything, it's about a fight against evil and how we respond to evil and what kind of power evil has over us. i think that in the journey of the seven books, but especially that last book, and the half we're seeing in the film, that's the question that harry and his friends are asking. >> what do you say to the christians that say, danielle, these films are about a wizard and the wizard story spells, poeiopoe i potions and curses. >> the first thing i encourage them to do whether or not they want to expose their children to the books is give them a try on their own and if they do want to read them, read them with their children and make that into a teachable moment. but with regard to the presence of witchcraft, the way i -- i talk to my students and the way

i talk to parents about it is to say witchcraft is a power and it's a gift that is given to people in this particular world and it can be used for good or it can be used for ill. and the bad characters are certainly using it with ill intentions. and just like anything that's powerful, like medicine, like nolg, it can be used well or it can be used, you know, dangerously. and so the question to my mind is not -- are the books evil because witchcraft is used? but, instead, are they -- because how they are used? >> interesting write. danielle, thank you. you can read the entire piece on our blog on cnn.com. harry potter fans tonight you get insider pass. laesh king takes you behind the scenes for the a making of the final movie in the series. join larry for a special hosted by larry king.

tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. traffic is already bad in los angeles but it's about to get even worse as the city braces for a major freeway shutdown. those drivers won't be going anywhere and neither was the window washer dangling above the street. we're going to show you the amazing rescue. we're back two minutes and 20 seconds.

checking stories across the country. these folks are lined up for section 8 housing but when the doors open they started rushing. several people including a pregnant woman trampled but no

one seriously hurt. someone stealing mailboxes in los angeles. four of these blue boxes on concrete slabs were taken. post office is warning customers about the danger of identity theft but the real target may be that metal. firefighters in seattle had to rescue a window washer as he dangles 65 feet above the street. his chair broke. only his safety harness saved his life. a rescuer on a ladder truck actually brought him down. in southern california, drivers buckling up for carmageddon. a bridge demolition is going to close down the 405, one of the l.a.'s busiest highways. it's likely to cause a pretty big traffic nightmare as well. casey wian is there. is l.a. ready for this, casey? >> reporter: i think l.a. is ready for this. you can see the bridge spanning the 405 freeway connecting the

san fernando valley of los angeles to the west side of los angeles. now, starting tonight, officials are going to begin demolishing that bridge slowly with jackhammers and what they will eventually do is add a carpool lane to the 405 freeway to ease traffic congestion. what a that means this weekend for a ten-mile stretch of this freeway it is going to be completely closed. officials are very worried about the traffic gridlock that could result throughout southern california from this freeway closure, spreading to other freeways throughout the area. for weeks now, they have been warning the public. there have been signs all over southern california on freeways about this freeway closure. they are asking that people look for alternative means of transportation. use public transportation if at all possible. they have added buses. they have added trains. they are also telling people to expect delays if they must drive but the main advice is if you don't have to drive, stay home and avoid this area completely.

now, you mentioned the term carmageddon. a lot of people have used this term. it's a lot of high per boley. southern california has survived much worse traffic situations than this before. the 1994 north ridge earthquake, we had two major freeways shut down for weeks. it was a nightmare then but the economy, the area did survive, did come back. probably the closest example we can think of in semirecent history is 1984 olympics. that was also considered to be before the event, a potential traffic nightmare. people stayed home and one of the lightest periods of traffic that this area has seen for, you know, decades. so officials say that they are warning the public. they are saying that if, on monday, when this is all wrapped up, that everybody comes back and says this was a big nothing, that they exaggerated, that that

is okay, because they want to prevent these significant problems from spreading. so they are saying it's better to be on the cautious side than to sort of pretend like nothing is happening. kyra? >> got it. casey wian there in l.a., we will see how this impact the 500,000 plus drivers that take to that highway. later today at 2:00 p.m. on the "cnn newsroom" with randi kaye her guest will be the l.a. mayor who will join us live to talk us how it's going to impact l.a. we will sports in seven minutes. another good thing about geico is, they've got, like, real live people working there 24/7.

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today. 11:00 eastern president obama holding a news conference to talk about the debt ceiling negotiations. watch it live on cnn. 12:30 eastern mr. obama speaking to astronauts. last mission for the shuttle program. later tonight in southern california the traffic nightmare known as carmageddon officially begins. construction workers reworking the 405. lots of development the next hour. check in with our -- actually, no. check with the pentagon correspondent barbara starr. that a typo. barbara, you can handle both beats, i'm sure, on the other

hand. >> reporter: i would always refer to my friend dan lothian. if you think the phone hacking scandal in britain is grabbing world headlines, wait until you hear what is going on at the pentagon. that story is coming up. i'm susan candiotti in new york. the fbi as barbara said is into their investigation into that possible phone hacking scandal in the u.s. and reaction from the 9/11 families. that in the next hour. >> reporter: president obama will be holding the second press conference this week here at the white house. a chance to not only prod congressional leaders to get an agreement on deficit deduction but explain to people what is happening here in washington. i'll have more on that story in the next hour. also ahead, retirement. doesn't that word sound fantastic? but if you're single, you might not be saving enough to relax on that beach. we will explain. and he gives me a variety of options.

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well, it appears that no one is safe from hackers. even the u.s. military. for the first time the pentagon reveals that its computer network was hacked. here's pentagon correspondent barbara starr. >> reporter: in the field touchscreen phones and tablet devices are being tested by soldiers. soon troops may be texting battlefield messages, photos, and reports right from the front

line. but modern communications are risky. the phone hacking scandal in britain just the latest example of today's vulnerabilities. and just as the pentagon unveiled its plans for operations in cyberspace, top officials revealed one of the worst breaches ever. >> indeed, in a single intrusion this past march 24,000 files were taken. >> it was done, we think, by a foreign intelligence service. in other words, a nation-state was behind it. >> reporter: pentagon officials confirmed it was sensitive u.s. military data taken from a contractor's computer system. cyberspace is now a potential war zone. >> cyber attacks will be a significant component of any future conflict. whether it involves major nations, rogue states, or terrorist groups. >> reporter: in 2008 an infected flash drive was inserted into a laptop on a u.s. military base. a foreign spy agency had placed

a malicious code on the drive, transferring secret data to foreign control. for the first time a foreign government had a cyber beachhead. the new pentagon strategy focuses on defending military systems from theft and denial or disruption of service. but it's tough. >> you're going to wind up using component elements that are built around the world. and so the issue of securing a supply chain becomes, you know, very much a security matter. >> reporter: in the event of a devastating attack in military cyberspace the president could order a conventional counterattack using missiles or bombs. but at least one senior officer says even the more mundane phone hacking scandal is still concerning. >> it does worry me. more from the standpoint that to date industry in the chip sets that we use in our displays, the

chip sets we use in our phones or other end point devices are not currently configured to encrypt. and we're going to have to start to think our way through as a nation. >> cnn's pentagon correspondent barbara starr joining us. barbara, do we know any more about this computer intrusion? >> reporter: you know, the pentagon clearly wanted to say just a little bit about it, let people know that it had happened, but they won't say what country, what spy service they think may have been responsible for it. and really it's just the latest in a series of incidents. everything from information on aircraft electronics to satellite communications appears to be vulnerable these days. kyra in. >> barbara starr. thanks. we could have a deal to end the nfl lockout as soon as this weekend. espn reporting the players and the owners have reached an agreement on big issues. player compensation, salary cap, and rookie wage structure. both sides talki ining again th

morning. the league is up against a deadline to get dale done by next week so no preseason games are lost. all eyes are on 20-year-old tom lewis. with the british open second round under way, he was tied for the lead after the first day, setting a record for the lowest round by an amateur in the history of the tournament. check out this shot. the 16th hole. that's dustin johnson using a pitching wedge from the tee. yes, it was a par 3, 159 yards. and guess what? you got it. he got a hole in one. and the sun broke through the clouds at coors field during last night's colorado-milwaukee game. a beautiful rainbow across the crowd. so brewers first baseman prince fielder called time, went to his dugout, grabbed some shades, couldn't find any. so guess what? yeah, you got it. a colorado fan said hey, take mine, pal. fielder does, goes back in the field. then when the sun went behind the cloud again, such a nice guy, he returned the glasses to the fan. you can see he's texting

everybody what happened. well, you know, lawmakers can actually say the darnedest things when the debt clock is ticking. tempers have flared during these talks, which at times have been described as intense and unproductive. cnn's jeanne moos looks at the lowlights. >> reporter: we are indebted to the debt ceiling for making our politicians testy, testy. >> president obama, quit lying. >> i think mitch mcconnell, frankly, has lost his mind. >> and you think this mess started 18 months ago? no, it did not. >> reporter: a democrat gets fiery. a republican mocks her back. >> i think we're going to have to extend the space shuttle for an extra day to retrieve that thought process. it got so far out there in orbit. >> reporter: these politicians aren't even the ones stuck in the room where the debt talks are taking place. now, since cameras aren't allowed in the negotiating room, we can only imagine the annoyance, the exasperation, the tension. >> temperatures began rising. >> debt negotiations turning

nasty. >> an angry president shoves his chair back and walks out. >> it seems like the president had a, well, hissy fit. >> when it almost came to blows between eric cantor and the president. >> almost came to blows? that's almost as overblown as comparing the debt talks to the "real housewives of new jersey." >> [ bleep ]. >> theresa completely, certifiably crazabe ably out of mind. >> reporter: remind you of anything? >> i think mitch mcconnell, frankly, has lost his mind. >> reporter: mitch mcconnell's raise the debt ceiling plan got bashed by both sides. >> it's called el foldo. >> reporter: and the president got compared to a popeye character. >> he reminds me of the cartoon character wimpy where wimpy said -- >> i'll gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today. >> reporter: this has literally become a food fight. >> we might as well do it now. eat our peas. >> tell to us eat our peas like

bratty little kids. >> by the way, did you see i got a big plate of peas and i ate all my peas. so now it's the president's turn to cut federal spending. >> speaker boehner reportedly said that dealing with the democrats is a lot like dealing with jell-o. >> jell-o is slippery, slimy -- >> i love jell-o personally p if you mix peas in it, you can get -- >> reporter: never mind the debt ceiling. just be glad there's no blood on the ceiling. unlike al capone in "the untouchables" -- >> i get nowhere unless the team wins. >> reporter: made the politicians of the debt talks take a bat to the budget. take a bat to the budget. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com it's 10:00 a.m. on the east coast, 7:00 a.m. in the west. i'm kyra phillips. thanks for joining us. the drawdown of troops in afghanistan are under way. more than 1,200 are either out or on their way home. 10,000 u.s. troops are being

pulled out by the end of the year. a tom murdoch executive resigns. rebekah brooks, former head of the disgraced tabloid "news of the world" is gone. and in southern california drivers buckling up for carmageddon, a bridge demolition that's going to close down the 405, one of l.a.'s busiest highways. now the nation's debt crisis and a new deadline. forget august 2nd. the president says it's decision time now. and here's what he told congress. you've got 24 hours or less to move forward on a deal. and then there's this dire message from the big three global credit ratings agencies. if a deal isn't reached soon, they're going to downgrade the nation's credit standing. the president speaks to the american public today. a news conference less than two hours away. we will carry it live. cnn's dan lothian's at the white house. he's waiting for that news conference to begin. and then our washington -- in our washington bureau wolf blitzer is going to join us for special coverage at just before the end of the hour. wolf, let's go ahead and start with you. you know, you've covered washington for a long time. you've had this beat.

has it ever been this bad? >> yes. there have been moments that have been very, very tense, and a lot of us remember 1995, when bill clinton was president of the united states, newt gingrich was speaker, they had a showdown that actually resulted in the shutting down of the u.s. government. they went eyeball to eyeball on that issue. and remember, as a result of that the republicans and newt gingrich, they suffered in the polls. bill clinton the following year was re-elected president in '96, beating bob dole, and a lot of the republicans, especially mitch mcconnell right now, the senate minority leader, they lived through that period, they remember what happened when there was that eyeball to eyeball government shutdown, and the republicans paid a significant price in the sense that bill clinton was re-elected. they don't want barack obama to be re-elected next year. so for many of them who lived through the government shutdown in '95 it still hovers very much on their minds right now. and i think that helps explain why the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell has come up with this desperate last-minute

effort to avoid what would effectively be default and a lot of people would presumably blame the republicans for that. many would blame the democrats and the president for that. but mitch mcconnell doesn't want to take any chances, not only politically but even more importantly economically because the economic fallout, higher interest rates, devaluation of the dollar, greater unemployment, stock markets plummeting, all of those scenarios could potentially unfold, and that's why i think he and harry reid are working desperately right now to come up with some sort of back channel resolution. >> now, you interviewed gop rising star paul ryan yesterday. let's listen to a little bit of that for a minute. >> and look, we just don't think it's a good idea to be raising taxes in this very, very soft economy. and yes, the president says he wants the tax increases to kick in in about a year and a half time. but the problem is when you're raising taxes on businesses they're forward-looking and if they see taxes going up even higher than they are already scheduled to occur in current law it puts a chilling effect on

hiring. >> now, do you get the feeling that any of these politicians realize how angry and scared americans are right now, wolf? >> yes. i think they do. i think paul ryan especially is a very smart guy. he understands what's going on. he has a different attitude than obviously liberal democrats, including the president of the united states. but he's not one of these republicans in the house that's going to vote against an increase in the debt ceiling under any circumstances. michele bachmann, for example, says she'll vote against any increase in the debt ceiling and the debt limit. he says he'll vote for it if, if it's accompanied by significant spending cuts. and he's also open to no increase in taxes, but he's open to tax reform, eliminating some of those outrageous loopholes in the subsidies, but he wants to make sure it's balanced with a reduction in tax rates, if you will, so it does spur the economy. he's a smart guy. he's very serious when it comes to this kind of stuff. he's got his ideas about medicare. i think he was surprised like a

lot of us when the president was willing to put medicare, even social security, on the negotiating table as part of a broad $4.5 trillion grand scheme, which seems to be going down the tubes right now, not going to happen. but i think he was at least happy that the president was willing to talk about med care cuts. >> all right. wolf blitzer, we look forward to the live coverage coming up in less than an hour. thanks so much. we will go live to the white house, and dan lothian as well. stay with cnn for live coverage of that news conference. like i said, less than an hour from hour, 11:00 eastern time. a key figure in the rupert murdoch media scandal has resigned. rebekah brooks was editorial of the tabloid "news of the world" when some of the most disgraceful abuses allegedly took place. she was later promoted to a top executive post, and many people were outraged that she even kept her job after the newspaper was shut down. however, there is praise coming from rupert murdoch's son and

company chairman. james murdoch says in a statement, "she has been one of the outstanding editors of her generation and she can be proud of many accomplishments as an executive." all right. looks like we're going to move on to new york now and cnn's susan candiotti. susan, you've been following the other part of this investigation, and that is the one that's taking place here in the u.s. the fbi now being brought in after u.s. lawmakers asking for its own -- or asking for their own probe of this scandal. >> reporter: that's right. the question of course is where, oh where will this investigation lead. we know that the fbi is in day two of its investigation after just launching one into whether phone records and possibly voicemails of 9/11 victims were hacked here in the united states, of 9/11 victims.

and so the fbi, here's how it all started, is looking specifically at an article that was published in great britain talking about a private eye who may have been approached by "news of the world" and/or news corporation to be hired to hack into these phone records. so that appears to be the starting point here. of course, this news comes with -- is a tremendous relief to a lot of 9/11 victims who have been calling font justice department to look into this allegation. and i spoke with jim riches, who lost his son, a firefighter, on 9/11. >> if somebody went in and took our information and took our last messages from our sons or our -- what we were talking about, it's not -- none of their business unless they can ask us and if we're willing to tell them we'll tell them. but to invade privacy like that, america has rights, we have rights, and they can't just trample on the law. they should be held accountable. >> and so in fact mr. riches and

other 9/11 families a are telli us that if there is evidence that they can find that this did happen then certainly they want the fbi to prosecute whoever is responsible to the fullest extent of the law. kyra? >> all right. susan candiotti out of new york. thank you so much. let's head overseas. zain virnerjee out of london. the u.s. women's team so close to touching the world cup and zain is going to be there covering it for us as well. should be out there on the field showing abby wambach a few moves or two. she's got some skill, right, zain? >> yeah. i'm going to be showing her how to play as they get ready for that final showdown against japan. dare to dream, kyra. they are just one match away from history. now, there are not going to be vuvuzelas like in the world cup in south africa that will be trumpeting, but the germans are a little bit more muted. but there is so much excitement

building up that the people, the fans in germany are actually, the majority of them, rooting for the u.s. they've been the underdogs, and they have really shone in this tournament. they are tough, they're talented, they're resilient, they have amazing stamina, and they really are a great team. now, for japan this is also a big deal. they are highly motivated because of the tsunami. they want a win because they get to lift up their whole country. japan's kind of a chauvinistic country, kyra. for many people they say it's the women's football team, the soccer team here, that is really giving them a source of inspiration. the japanese are also a really skilled team. so the u.s. is really going to have to be on top of its game. and this is a team that could clinch history and clinch the world cup. i'll be there watching. and it's going to be great. the whole world is gripped by this, kyra. as is the u.s. and it's been such a big boost for soccer in the u.s. have you ever played? >> yes, i did, but a very, very long time ago. i played back in the day when

the only hero was pele. okay? so it shows how far this sport has come. and we love seeing those women out there, you know, doing such a great job. they're going to bring home that cup for us. it will be awesome. >> we'll keep our fingers, toes, and eyes crossed. >> there we go. all right. we'll be talking to you over the weekend and of course monday. zain, thanks. coming up next right after the break, we're taking you live to the international space station. guess who these guys got a call from? you're going to find out. hone -- t the motorola expert from sprint. its powerful tools help you work faster and smarter so you can get back to playing "angry birds." it lets you access business forms on the go, fire off e-mails with the qwerty keypad, and work securely around the world so you can get back to playing "angry birds." it's the android-powered phone that mixes business with pleasure. so let's get our work done, america, so we can all get back to playing "angry birds." the motorola expert from sprint. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. i don't even know anymore.

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personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. and a quick reminder. president barack obama scheduled to hold a news conference 11:00 a.m. eastern time today. he is expected to discuss his efforts to raise the federal

debt limit. we will bring it to you live in its entirety, 11:00 a.m. eastern, just about 45 or so minutes away. all right. checking stories across the country now. pretty scary few moments at boston's logan airport last night. two planes colliding on the runway right before takeoff. a delta 767's left wing crushed the tail section of a smaller delta commuter plane. luckily, both planes -- well, actually, everything ended up being okay. everybody had to evacuate. >> kind of crazy that we couldn't sell lemonade. so -- but it was fun. but we had to listen to the cops and shut it down. >> crazy indeed. can you believe these girls got busted? that's right. a lemonade stand. police in midway, georgia shut it down because the girls didn't have a business license or a vendor's permit. according to the chief, the law is the law, girls. so now they say they were just trying to earn money to go to the water park. and get this.

an indianapolis man learns bay love letter written by his high school sweetheart 53 years later. it was signed, "love forever, vonnie." of course, by the woman who would later become his wife. they eventually divorced, but he says he's still anxious to read it and share it with his kids. as if the shuttle mission isn't exciting enough, john zarrella, the astronauts now waiting for a call from the president. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, kyra. at about 12:30 eastern time president obama is expected to place a phone call to the ten crew members up there, the six international space station astronauts, cosmonauts, and the four shuttle astronauts. and as we are speaking, kyra, the ten of them are actually holding a news conference in space. and you know, as you can

imagine, they have been asked repeatedly about life after the space shuttle and questions about what memorabilia they might be leaving behind. commander chris ferguson, the shuttle commander of this very last shuttle flight, talked about what life will be like after space shuttle. >> no doubt that this is a -- it's a very dynamic time in human space flight as the space shuttle draws to a close without a real clear picture of how the next u.s. astronauts will get there. but rest assured that there are plans under way. we'll be slowly transitioning to commercial companies. and i -- while it's a little personally disheartening to see the shuttle come, we understand that sometimes you need to stop working on what you're working on so you can afford to pay for the next generation of whatever it is. >> reporter: you know, it's funny. i talked to chris ferguson, interviewed him a month or so

ago, and one of the things i asked him about was mars and going to mars. and he said he's disappointed about where we are as far as that goes now. he said, you know, mars has been 20 years away for the last 30 years, which i thought was, you know, a classic response. and kyra, there's going to be a closing ceremony. and they are not saying, the astronauts, exactly what will take place during that closing ceremony, you know, next week when they close the hatch out and they separate for the last time from the international space station, but that's likely to be a dramatic moment. and i think nasa missed the boat, or i should say space ship, because you and i should be up there right now. they should have flown us. >> yeah, i totally agree. i'm already working my navy buddies now in the astronaut program. >> reporter: there you go. >> yeah, looking for the next place to -- don't worry, john, i'll take you with me, i promise. i'll work it for both of us. i know it's a big dream for both of us. >> reporter: all right. >> speaking of the navy, our kaj larsen used to be a navy

s.e.a.l., once a s.e.a.l. always a s.e.a.l., but he's journeyed many unique places in his life and career but nothing quite like this. >> reporter: in 2007 a scientific exploration planted a russian flag at the bottom of the arctic sea bed. what some publicly dismissed as a political stunt was privately considered in some circles a sputnik-like moment. according to secret leaked cables published by wikileaks the rest of the world began scrambling to make sure they got a piece of the arctic pie. that's how i came to be at a u.s. navy facility in the arctic circle to observe the escalating tension and activity in the region. >> oh, yeah. that's brisk. >> reporter: at daybreak we headed out to rendezvous with one of the two u.s. nuclear submarines patrolling in the arctic. >> you know planes, trains and automobiles? the cnn version, ice planes, helicopters, and submarines.

>> reporter: the helicopter dropped us and our equipment at the rendezvous site. a three-foot-thick sheet of ice several miles away from the base camp. with no ocean in sight, hundreds of miles from the nearest cell phone tower, it was hard to imagine how on earth a submarine would find me. >> are we a go for ice man surfacing? over. >> reporter: an x in the ice indicated where the submarine was to surface. then the ground started to rumble. >> all right, kaj, you've been to war but never an ice war. this was pretty unbelievable. >> it was actually a pretty

extraordinary experience. well, you know, i follow in the footsteps of greatness because you set the trend for us by going up there. >> a long time ago. it was pretty awesome. >> but you know, a lot has actually changed in that time. there's been some tectonic shifts happening at the top of the world. one of them is that the ice is melting at a pretty rapid rate, opening up access to all kinds of new resources, and because of that you're seeing a resurgence of interest in the arctic, hence u.s. military submarines and other nations' military assets as well. >> describe to me what it was like to be on board that sub. >> well, just watching it come through the ice, break through a three-foot-thick sheet of ice, was awesome. >> a new kind of ice cutter. it wasn't a coast guard ship that i've seen, it was actually a submarine, which is pretty surreal. >> straight up from 350 feet below. it was pretty impressive. but being on the submarine is an awesome experience, and it really highlighted the challenges of orpth underneath the ice and in the arctic environment. >> and let's talk about why this is happening, exactly what

countries are doing, the purpose behind this mission. >> well, there's eight countries that are part of the arctic council, but you know, big picture of what's happening is because of all the new resources, potentially a third of the world's natural gas, 90 billion barrels of oil up there, there's just renewed interest in exploiting those resources. and where you see competition for resources you also see potential for conflict. so you see the u.s., the soviets taking a serious look at their nations' military capabilities up there. i don't want to overstate it, but it's somewhat reminiscent of a neocold war. >> all right. we definitely look forward to seeing the whole piece. i haven't had a chance to see the whole thing. i'm looking forward to it. thanks, kaj. >> thanks. >> you can all catch, it actually. "ice wars" sunday night, 8:00 eastern. plus "stone cold killer" and "extreme cheerleading." three amazing stories, one hour of razor-sharp journalism. that's this sunday on cnn right here. single people, take note. there's a price tag to your freedom. a new study says you'll be paying it in your retirement

years. just ahead, a warning for the unattached. and move over, lady gaga, there's a new facebook queen. it ain't you. we've got the scoop in showbiz. what's up, smart?

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let's talk showbiz, shall we? here's the headlines. move over, lady gaga. rihanna now the most popular woman on facebook according to faintcount.com, rihanna surpassed gaga around noon yesterday with more than 25,000 fans. and let me tell you, lady gaga fans are not taking the news lightly. they of course took to twitter telling fans unlike rihanna. but to cher lady gaga is the greatest thing. she's back in the studio after nine years and recorded a song that lady gaga gave her. cher shared the news on twitter, saying "she gave me a great song. i'm beyond grateful." and eva longoria's character may be popular on "desperate housewives," but her vegas nightclub not so much. according to radaronline that club is closing its doors temporarily due to financial troubles. but a restaurant attached to the club, well, it's still making money and it's going to stay open. speaking of money, hey, singles, better start stocking away the cash if you want to retire. alison cosic has the results of a new survey taken, not looking so good. >> no.

you know what the study finds, kyra, that more married people are ready for retirement than singles. and when you look at this study you really see the savings gap for women who don't have a high school degree. just a quarter of unmarried women are prepared for retirement while almost 70% of married women without a high school degree, they are prepared. and then when you look at another group of people, people who are already into that retirement phase, 66 to 69-year-olds, couples do better than singles. half of all singles, both men and women, are at risk of running into serious financial trouble, meaning they could outlive their savings, but just 23% of couples are in that situation. and you think it's an obvious reason why, when you have two people you can save more money. but researchers say you know what, the difference here is that at least one person in the couple could live into their 90s and need a bigger nest egg to keep spending. kyra? >> okay. alison kosik, thanks so much. so what do you think? should president obama focus all his time on the debt talks, or should he break away and head to

cheer on the u.s. women's soccer team as they fight for that world cup championship? as you can imagine, our political buzz panel will weigh in on this.

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well, the president has a news conference in just about half an hour. talking about the debt ceiling negotiations. and yes, we've been covering that story every day. you've been watching. you see how we do it. but it's nothing like jon stewart. >> the president continued, "i have shown enormous willingness to compromise." >> mr. obama then left, saying, "i'll see you tomorrow." >> oh, [ bleep ]! oh, no, he didn't. the president all stormed out and was like, okay, tomorrow then. [ laughter ] what? that's not storming out. that's ending a meeting by scheduling the next meeting. >> political buzz is your rapid-fire look at the hottest political topics of the day. three questions, 20 seconds on the clock. and playing today, democratic

national committee member robert zimmerman. cnn contributor and independent john avlon. and republican strategist and columnist for the "hill" newspaper sherry jacobus. first question, guys, while republicans in washington look like they're moving closer to a deal, sarah palin is digging in, advising now is not the time to retreat, it's the time to reload and reload with reality. okay. who's right? sherry? >> you know, i'm with her on this one. this isn't supposed to be easy. i think it should be as difficult as possible to raise the debt ceiling. the voters spoke loud and clear last fall about what they wanted their elected officials to do with the economy and they need to listen. it's not about getting them home on vacation so they can spend time with their families. keep them in town working. i think they need to fight this. she's right. >> robert? >> cheri, it's also not about cliches. it's a critical time in our country's history. we're engaging in bumper sticker slogans. our congress has got to take action. the mcconnell plan walks away

from spending cuts, walks away from revenue enhancements, walks away from economic stability. cheri, what are the studies that show, that justify sarah palin's sense of reality? i'll give you the balance of my time to answer that. >> what you're calling bumper sticker slogans has happens to be reality -- >> wait a minute. it's not a debate. john, jump in. mediate. >> this is the problem. right? hyperpartisanship is hijacking the debate. >> oh. >> listen, reloading with reality -- >> i was asked to respond and i did. >> that's the problem with debt ceiling deniers. by definition they're not dealing with reality. and sarah palin is offering a slogan that has nothing to do with finding a solution. it's the last thing people should be doing. deal with the debt. deal with the deficit. raise the debt ceiling, folks. this isn't that tough. >> in an interview with candy crowley rudy giuliani now urging that we give his old friend rupert murdoch "the presumption of innocence." knowing what we already know about the scandal, does he deserve that? robert?

>> of course he does. the presumption of innocence, it's one of the foundations of our system of justice, and it should be respected and applied here. let's also remember, as immoral and egregious as the conduct was by these tabloids, do we think they were the only tabloids in great britain that behaved that way? and shouldn't we be suspicious of how the competitors are covering this scandal? >> okay. cheri? >> i agree with him. >> no debate here. okay. very good. >> in the court of public opinion things can change, but yes, you know, you're innocent until proven guilty. and this is probably something i think most of us do suspect it goes on at other places and people are probably shaking in their boots thinking oh, my gosh, i'm going to get caught next. we haven't heard the end of this, have we in i think it's going to get very, very interesting. >> john. >> yeah, but i wouldn't minimize this. of course everyone's entitled to a presumption of innocence. but this is bad, and it looks like it's going to get a lot worse. and if the accusations are true, for example, about the 9/11 phone tapping, that would be unforgivable. the question is whether this is

a cautionary tale or a tale of corporate conduct. but this is unprecedented, and it's likely to get worse. so let's not minimize it. >> all right, guys, your buzzer beater. ten seconds each. the u.s. women's soccer team inviting president obama to their world cup championship game on sunday. okay. as we know, we've got a huge budget battle heating up here. can he take in the game? john? >> no. you can't call -- with the nation facing the crisis call for 24-hour round-the-clock debt negotiations and then jet off to europe to catch a soccer game. ain't going to happen. bad move. this is what vice presidents are for. >> cheri? >> the president's enerroneously claiming seniors aren't going to get their social security checks. i think he needs to stick around town. it would be nice o'watch a soccer game, but tough, you've got a job to do. >> robert? >> kyra, he should go and bring all his negotiating democratic and republican team with him. they should see an example of great teamwork and they should also see an example of also a great victory for our country. >> happy weekend, you guys.

>> you too. >> thanks. president obama has sent a message to lawmakers on the debt crisis. now he's going straight to the american people. at the top of the hour he's going to hold a live news conference. we'll take it of course. dan lothian at the white house. so what do you expect the president to say, dan? >> reporter: well, the president will be pushing these lawmakers to go for the biggest deal possible. this is another public forum. the second time now this week that he's had a press conference. but i'm told by a senior administration official that the president will also use this opportunity to again lay out what would happen if the debt ceiling were not raised. and also explain to the american people who are quite frankly confused about what washington is doing what the process is all about. an update on the situation. but there is still a big divide between democrats and republicans and even within their own parties as well. we just heard from house speaker john boehner, who was saying that republicans still want -- are not supporting any higher

taxes, they want deeper cuts, they want entitlement reforms. and so with this wide divide it's difficult to see how they'll be able to reach any agreement here in the next few hours or the coming days. >> all right. dan lothian. we are watching it minute by minute. and don't forget, stay with cnn for president obama's news conference. our coverage begins just before his event, which is at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. we will be taking it live. for our wounded warriors the road to recovery can be pretty tough. and coming up, you're going to see, it just all depends on what road you're taking. hey can i play with the toys ?

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well, we're more than halfway through this year's tour de france, and while much of the focus is on who's ahead and which stage that it's actually, in i'd rather talk with you about some other remarkable competitors, these guys. you're not going to see them on tv except for right here on cnn. more than 100 of our wounded warriors joined the tour de france for their ride to recovery. and you're going to meet two of them right now. ride to recovery organizer andrew pagani, he's joining us from denver, colorado. and sergeant first class live in baton rouge, louisiana. great to see you guys. we know you're just back from france and you got up early to be a part of this segment today. i appreciate it. mike, i want to start with you. you lost your right leg in a landmine in afghanistan and since then it has definitely been a tough recovery for you. but you got involved with this program. how has it helped you heal,

particularly going to france and riding the last 20 miles of the stage 6? >> well, i got injured in 2003. and i always loved sports. and i started running. i ran with president bush around the white house in 2004, and i did marathons, and it was just a great experience, but it was really hard on my back and on my leg. so i talked to john warden, who's the founder and president of ride to recovery. he was just starting it up at the time. and he said why don't you try cycling? and i did the first ride with him, and it was such a great experience, and being with people like me who understood me. i was in. and about seven months ago he hired me to work full-time for ride 2 recovery as vp of veterans assistance. >> and andrew, we're actually looking at some of the video that you've shot because you're turning this into a documentary, becomefilms.com. you know, since you left the army, you've still been battling

the lingering effects of a brain injury. you know, and now you devote so much time to vets' issues, particularly mental health. how has -- how have these rides, and for you in particular, helped you and other wounded warriors with regard to, you know, the psychological effects of war? >> well, kyra, good morning. first, just to correct real quick, i'm not the organizer of this. the organizer's john warden, the founder and president of ride 2 recovery. myself and our film crew were just participants. and as you said, i myself struggled when i came back with the invisible injuries. and i got involved in ride 2 recovery about a year and a half ago as part of the work i was doing with the injured veterans, specifically for those with the invisible injuries. so what myself and a couple others have been doing, we've been sponsoring through ride 2 recovery, veterans who represent the invisible injury, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, to help them with their reintegration, help them be able to participate in

an event that breaks the cycle of isolation, gives them a sense of accomplishment, and allows them to be -- you know, to be part of an activity that is so well established and so well received within the community, which helps really with the communalization of combat trauma because that's really how we can break the cycle of -- you know, of some of the catastrophic outcomes that we see. the invisible injury is the one injury that continues to produce casualties on a daily basis. and cycling is just an amazing sport. all the credit really goes to john warden, who's the president and founder, and all we're doing is we're just documenting it. and we're shooting this documentary through becomefilms.org. >> and it's pretty awesome too -- >> dot com. >> -- because you got to ride through the historical sites as well. the battlegrounds of normandy and visiting the graves. and i know that was inspiring. andrew and mike, thanks so much. check it out.

ride2recovery.com. also becomefilms.com. you can see how ride 2 recovery is changing the lives of these wounded warriors. and then also the upcoming documentary. guys, thanks so much. the debt crisis is a hot topic on the campaign trail. we're going to tell what you presidential candidate tim pawlenty is saying next in the political ticker. and we want to remind you that president barack obama is scheduled to hold a news conference just moments from now at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. he's going to be talking about the debt limit. we'll bring it to you live in its entirety. right now, go to priceline for a sneak peek at recent winning and better than ever! hotel bids to find where you n save up to 60% on hotels. * we'll even email you other people's winning bids, so you'll know what price to name. *á with new hotel bid alerts, from priceline.

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we're just about to join live coverage now of president obama's news conference on the debt talks. before we do that, which we're talking probably about 15 minutes away from, that let's bring in senior political editor mark preston. so mark, tim pawlenty actually talked about the debt crisis this morning. what did he have to say? >> well, you know, kyra, it has been a very hot topic on the campaign trail, and tim pawlenty on "morning expresmr on "american morning" just a short time ago had these comments on the debt negotiations. >> it is a mess but it's got to be fixed. and the problem is if they just put a band-aid over a broken bone that's not going to solve the problem. i really hope they would use this moment -- i wish they wouldn't raise the debt ceiling but obviously they're moving in that direction. so they should fix the problem really and not just kick the can down the road. >> and there you have tim pawlenty, the former minnesota governor who is running for the republican presidential nomination.

now, pawlenty is really echoing what we're hearing from his rivals for the gop nomination today and in past days and certainly will be in the coming days about the debt negotiations. now, kyra, what's interesting is that the front-runner for the republican presidential nomination, mitt romney, today unveiled a new political attack against president obama. he's starting to compare him now to president jimmy carter. kyra? >> all right. mark preston live out of washington there. thanks so much. i'm just getting more information about that raid by navy s.e.a.l.s that captured osama bin laden back on may 2nd. you'll remember that a lot of documents were taken from osama bin laden's compound in pakistan. well, apparently, we're learning what those documents showed. and the information that we're getting now is that u.s. president barack obama and general david petraeus were actually specifically mentioned as targets for al qaeda in these documents and that the mode of attack was even talked about. it involved destroying their aircraft when they were in the

region. now, this is a source that's familiar with these materials that were recovered from the compound. they are telling us now what these documents said. once again, when the navy s.e.a.l.s stormed that compound that you're looking at right now back on may 2nd with the hopes of taking out osama bin laden, the most wanted terrorist on the fbi's most wanted list, when they took those documents, retrieved those documents and those computers, documents now saying that general david petraeus and president barack obama were both targets of al qaeda. going into detail about when they were going to be in the region, how they were going to target their aircraft. all right. when we come back, the best political team on television assembled. they're going to bring you the president's live news conference. he's about to talk about the contentious battle with congress over raising the nation's debt ceiling. it's set to begin at the top of the hour.

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live from studio 7, i'm suzanne malveaux. and president obama holds a news conference at the top of the hour on the deadlock over raising the debt ceiling. after days of tense talks and political back and forth, the week is ending pretty much the same way it started, with stalled negotiations and a presidential news conference. only now the situation is even more critical. >> the stakes certainly are enormous, suzanne. i'm wolf blitzer here in washington. and as we await the president's news conference, we'll update you on where things stand right

now, what the debt ceiling debate means for the country, the economy, and for your personal finances. >> well, no new talks are planned today between the white house and congressional leaders after five meetings in five days. they're trying to come up with a deal that raises the debt ceiling to prevent the u.s. from defaulting on its bills while also trimming the deficit. the treasury secretary warns of financial disaster if there is no deal by august 2nd. now, the president says he wants an agreement within 24 to 36 hours. and here's a quick look at where things stand. president obama is holding out hope for the so-called grand bargain. $4 trillion in savings through spending cuts, reforming medicare, other entitlements, and potentially raising taxes. but republicans oppose any tax increases. now, senator mitch mcconnell, he suggested a fallback plan. it would give the president the authority to raise the debt limit to keep the country from

defaulting. house majority leader eric cantor proposes a short-term hike in the debt ceiling. and president obama says no to that. so just like on monday, president obama's going to try to make his case to the public. i want to bring in our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin in the briefing room where the president is going to hold his news conference. and jessica, i don't think in any of our years that you and i both have been covering the white house that we have ever seen a president hold a press conference twice in one week. i mean, i don't even recall that. what does he hope to accomplish here? >> reporter: it is a lot of talking. the point of this, suzanne, essentially is to take his case again to the american people and to keep the pressure on capitol hill to get something done and to get something done quickly. you can expect the president no doubt to make the case again, as we have heard so many times in recent days, that he wants something done big but he also wants something done now. that he wants the leaders to, as we've heard, put their differences aside and find a way

to get compromise. you know, we have heard from the white house, from democrats in general, that they would like this white house process to bear fruit. but there is a diminishing sense of hope in washington in general that this negotiation that you've mentioned that was five days, almost eight hours, is actually going to be the center of progress, that perhaps the negotiations that are now taking place on the hill, quiet talks that are happening there, will actually produce a piece of legislation that will ultimately raise the debt ceiling. so no doubt the president will get a lot of questions about what's come -- about the conversation that's are happening on capitol hill these days, suzanne. >> thank you, jessica. i want to go to wolf blitzer in washington. wolf, some people are saying this is really a sideshow, the president coming out here, that the real negotiations, the relevant talks, are happening behind the scenes. >> yeah, there's a lot of people saying that. the 1234 the senate leadership, the

republican leadership, the democratic leadership, especially mitch mcconnell, they've got a backup plan that seems to have some traction right now because the main deal doesn't seem to be going very far. but let's get the very latest from our congressional correspondent kate bolduan. she's up on capitol hill. just within the last hour the republican leadership came out and they gave their side of the story. >> giving their side of the story. and i'll tell you, some news this morning as they met with their caucus early this morning for quite a long time, wolf, the republican leadership came out to really lay down a marker. and they're kind of laying it out as the republican alternative here in order to get to a path of raising the debt ceiling. they're pushing now a bill that we've heard about. it's very popular amongst conservatives. a cut cap balance bill. it would cap spending as a percentage of gdp and also require a balanced budget amendment, an amendment to the constitution requiring that the federal government balance its budget every year. we've heard it talked about, but now they're saying this is what they're pushing for in terms of

these negotiations. listen here to john boehner as he's explaining why they're bringing this up, why they're pitching this now. >> we're in the fourth quarter here. time and again republicans have offered serious proposals to cut spending and address these issues. and i think it's time for the democrats to get serious as well. we asked the president to lead. we asked him to put forward a plan. not a speech. a real plan. and he hasn't. we will. >> a couple things on this, though, wolf. this would be a very tough vote in the democratic-controlled senate. so no matter. but regardless of how this republican alternative, how far this would go, i'll tell you that it does allow, as no surprise tourks it does allow republicans to vote on a bill, an idea that gets to the core of their principles here regardless of how this whole thing ends up. it puts the republicans on a

vote they really do want to take. and the house speaker john boehner said when asked he's unwilling to give up on these white house negotiations but he said this is what republicans are pushing for at this very moment, really laying down a marker, wolf, for his party. >> as you know, kate, though, the white house doesn't support a balanced budget amendment to the constitution and it's doubtful that what would probably pass the house of representatives next week would necessarily pass the u.s. senate. but it does give the republicans of the house an opportunity to make a statement. gloria borger is here, our chief political analyst. we're less than a minute away from the start, we're told, of this news conference, or at least a couple minutes away. give us a little perspective. the president really feels he's got a case to make, and he wants to make it to the american public, in effect going around the negotiators. >> he's going to speak directly to the american public. first of all he wants to reassure the markets, reassure the american public that yes, they're making some progress on this, wolf and indeed everybody sitting in that room agrees, you

have to do something to raise the debt ceiling. this morning's developments are really interesting to me because republicans in the house want to vote on balancing the budget so they can go home and say guess what, we voted on balancing the budget. and the compromise way out of this is so that they don't have to vote to raise the debt ceiling that the debt ceiling gets raised anyway. that's having your cake and eating it too. and it will be interesting to see what occurs in the future meetings if they have any over the weekend, whether the president gets anything resembling a larger size deal so they don't have to go to the backup. >> there's probably going to be some meetings over the weekend, i suspect. suzanne, there had been even some talk of the president inviting the republican and democratic leadership to camp david, although nancy pelosi, the democratic leader in the house, the minority leader, she made it clear yesterday she has no desire to go back and continue these discussions and sort of be jailed in to camp david, where there's limited opportunities -- here comes the president, suzanne. so let's listen. >> you know, yesterday we had

another meeting with the congressional leaders. we're not having one today. so i thought it would be useful to give you guys an update on where we are. all the congressional leaders have reiterated the desire to make sure that the united states does not default on our obligations and that the full faith and credit of the united states is preserved. that is a good thing. i think we should not even be this close to a deadline on this issue. this should have been taken care of earlier. but it is encouraging that everybody believes that this is something that has to be addressed. and for the general public, i've said this before, but i just want to reiterate, this is not some abstract issue. these are obligations that the united states has taken on in the past. the congress has run up the credit card, and we now have an obligation to pay our bills. if we do not, it could have a whole set of